MOTOR NOTES DRIVING DANGERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 171, 22 July 1941, Page 10

MOTOR NOTES DRIVING DANGERS

DURING BLACKOUT PEDESTRIAN "MENACE" Having had some time to accustom themselves to the new conditions, most motorists now are of the opinion that the vehicle lighting restrictions have made less difference to driving at night than was at first expected. After all. it is pointed out. the average motorist generally speakins uses his car at nights along sot routes to which he becomes accustomed. Driving in his own territory, therefore, he knows what to expert and with the reduced speed limit i« not likely to run into trouble. Strangers* driving into the city at night, of course, are finding some difficulty, although improved street lighting* in some areas is a help. Only two main danger points have become apparent. The first and most difficult to cure is what is fast becoming known as the pedestrian menace. Except on very clear nights it is almost impossible to detect pedestrians crossing the road at any I distance, and the difficulty is not made any easier by the fact that most are wearing dark clothes in winter months. | Secondly, there have been many complaints made concerning parked , cars left on dark roads. Even when parking lights are left on. it is disconcerting to round a corner and ; suddenly be confronted with a glow j ing tail-light only a few feet awa>. I The parking problem, however, is i largely a matter of common sense j and should solve itself satisfactorilv jin the course of a few weeks. I It is not so easy to see a solution jfor the pedestrian danger. The on'.v I answer appears to be persistent edujcation of the public, particularly in l the direction of wearing lighter-col-loured clothing at nipht. j WINTER DRIVING AID ' To keep road vision clear undc winter conditions, many Christchurch motorists have adopted a defrosting device consisting of a metal strip containing a low-powered elec trie element which is fixed to the inside of the windscreen of a car. This element provides sufficient hea* to prevent fog or frost obscuring the windscreen on the outside, and 'the formation of mist on the inside. ,On a recent trip to Mount Cook dol frosters were used on service buses I and proved very successful. A Christi church firm which stocked the do !frosters sold a gross in two months ' this winter and they arc now unobtainable.